K2 29er's

It's official, I think there are now more than enough brands to declare 29er's as a BOOM! With a mention of the brand in the Bianchi thread by TheSingleGuy, I rummaged through Google and found the K2 Big Train 800 (cheap sus fork) and the Big Ship 1200. They seem to be for the Japanese market only.

Wow- cool find. They say the Japanese copy other's orignal ideas, and then make them even better. Do our friends in the far east have a better handle on how great big wheels are? They didn't invent them, but are they going to bring the evolution along even faster than the U.S. can? Will I soon need to "drive" a Japanese 29er similar to my need to drive a Japanese mini pickup truck?!

CooL! Someone noticed my post!

Originally Posted by kustomz

... With a mention of the brand in the Bianchi thread by TheSingleGuy...

I'm famous!!!! AT LAST.

Just kidding! Yep, I hadnt noticed the Big-Ship, but I've been trying not to rush out and buy the Big-train. I've got a hydro disc set and disc hubs waiting for it, would just need to build up my hubs using its rims, do a SS conversion and WOOHOO! Also have an instigator fork lying around, maybe would cure the HA thing - but toe overlap might be a problem...

Actually, one of my good friends, JapanRider, found the inspiration he needed to go 29 when he saw the BigTrain in out local sports-store. He sat on it, and immediately found the wheel size he'd been missing (I guess the difference is more pronounced when you are over 6 foot 3 tall). He grabbed a Rig, and hasn't looked back. I haven't ridden with him on it yet, but in the six weeks he's had it, his Yeti ASR has been ridden a total of ZERO times.

Dammit, I had cured myself of the 29er urge until yesterday!

You guys suck.

I think its awesome to have a few entry-level 29ers around - can only be good to introduce new riders to the genre, and I think these bikes would be a hit everywhere. They should have been released all over, I have no idea why they are here. I have a friend who owns a pretty big bike shop in Nagoya, I'll see if he knows anything, and pass it on...

by the way,

Just found another couple of 29ers in my ALL-CATALOG. Thats the name of the catalog produced which contains every MTB sold in Japan each year. They are from ANCHOR - which is Bridgestone's performance bike company over here these days. seem like nice bikes, and there are also a few custom guys and small builders doing 29ers here now too. Amazing!

Sorry for picture quality, were taken with my cell-phone, I couldn't get the lighting right, and I've had two beers...

But really, does Japan now have more complete 29" bikes than the USA and Europe combined? Haha!

I don't know about that, but I think that one advantage Japan has is that it has a huge market of people who are ready to spend cash. They are happy to pay top-dollar, even seem to prefer to, and I guess when there are 126,000,000 people throwing money around, it attracts attention.

There are also a ton of collectors, looking for eclectic or rare stuff, especially that produced overseas, so my semi-educated guess is that these two factors attract more than Japan's fair share of the world's bicycles.

I also read something along the lines of "there are more vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Japan than in the USA" so it isn't just limited to MTB.

Oh, and by the way, they are getting taller over here. I am often surprised at how many tall people there are. Still nothing like Australia (the only other place I know), but all the same, was quite an eye-opener for me.

Not to get OT here, but

I once had an hilerious FrontPage presentation fwd'd to me, with official signs in Japan, telling us to do something, or not do something, in a machine-translation kind of way. Too funny.

If someone could tell Japan how silly such translations look, even a non-Japanese speaker could have a nice job checking English texts pre-print.

Go for it! Just remember that to even get hired by a Japanese company you'd have to be as proficient at their language as you, Cloxxki, are at English. Sure, anyone could proof-read translated passages, but to work along-side Japanese people all day would be an entirely different challenge! I've seen enough people struggle with this even when here only for a year to know it's true.

If you really want to laugh at Japanese, check out Engrish.com but remember how bad we'd all be if we tried to write something in their language.

Guess I did get OT, but I have a big soft spot for my current home. I think Japan and Japanese people are hugely misunderstood, partly because of history, and partly because of lack of up-to-date information.

Just found another couple of 29ers in my ALL-CATALOG. Thats the name of the catalog produced which contains every MTB sold in Japan each year. They are from ANCHOR - which is Bridgestone's performance bike company over here these days. seem like nice bikes, and there are also a few custom guys and small builders doing 29ers here now too. Amazing!

Sorry for picture quality, were taken with my cell-phone, I couldn't get the lighting right, and I've had two beers...

Bridgestone made some pretty cool bikes back in the early 90's. An MB-1 was near the top of my wish list back then.